Daily Reflection and Peace

We face an important challenge with mindful practice. The article linked above addresses this challenge with questions. Questions are fundamental to being challenged. When I am challenged, I ask questions. I question what is happening and what is making me feel a particular way.

When I read many articles about mindfulness, I find the articles miss the key underlying aspect of mindfulness, being present in the world in ways that improve one’s life and in that improvement the world is continuously becoming a better place. It is not about a corporate bottom line in the way we understand a corporate bottom line. I guess the bottom line is harder to measure. I cann0t apply a number to it, report it to shareholders, and make a banker satisfied. What I can do is ask, “Did I make the world a better place in some way by becoming a better person?”

Can you imagine if 7 billion plus people worked on making the world a better place through their living? That might be a number that is unmeasurable, but that is OK. It would be so big it would not need to be reported. Its quality would speak for itself.

About ivonprefontaine

I completed a PhD at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. Previously, I taught for 20 years and spent the last 14 years teaching in an incrediable hybrid school setting. My dissertation topic and research were how teachers experience becoming who teachers, as human subjects. For me, teaching is a calling and vocation that allows me to express who I am as a person. Currently, I am waiting and listening to what will call me. We have begun a small consulting and leadership firm called Rocky River Leadership & Consulting Ltd.

It always is worth while. David Jardine, a professor at the University of Calgary, splits the word worthwhile to describe whiling over things, events, and beings of worth. In this way we are joined with them, creating a unity and integrity. It is slow, patient work that many choose to avoid perhaps.

Right mindfulness, brings necessary attention to what is going on inside and outside.
It is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right concentration that complete the wisdom prescription. Interesting to think that non-judgmental, present moment awareness has inherent or implied virtues, imho 🙂

How can we do it? We have been having the discussion on my blog. Men who have been to war don’t know how to stop the fanatics that are slaughtering people in the Middle East and throughout the world. How can anyone talk to those religious fanatics that kill people (babies) because they don’t believe in their god? No one has answers. If Peace is logical, sane and healthy, WAR is the exact opposite. What can we do? Not one person has any idea/s on how we can stop the slaughter. How can we spread mindfulness to people who are insane? We need answers. Workable answers. If you have any ideas, please tell let us know.

hitandrun1964, I admire your passion and your questioning. I see so much of myself in it, but, and maybe this is a cop out, I have come to a place where I no longer ask “how” I simply try and “be” in the world that I touch and which touches me daily. I try and express my rather poor attempt at being mindful in that world, and when it comes to the end of the day, I do two things, first, I try and see and feel gratitude for what I’ve received from others and the events of the day, and second, I look to see how I have contributed to life around me and that’s it. Sounds rather simplistic, but it’s what keeps me sane. Strength to you friend. 🙂

To live to make the world a better place, one needs to make it better for everyone not just for the one trying to make it better. Such a fine line. If one opts to make it better for everyone it ultimately become better for the one. So often this is forgotten. It is not what is good for me is good for you – it is what is good for you is good for me. Great post.

A big question: How does one person take this task and reach out to the millions around them to change this world? A big task and one worth doing if we could just get it started.

The millions have to keep working. Our little bit every makes a difference. We were in a restaurant today and they were busy plus short-staffed. It was easy to grumble and some people did. One group about 15 minutes ahead of us to catch a ferry. The waitress had been abrupt with them and they were openly critical of the “poor service.” We left and caught the same ferry the other group did. Before we did, we thanked the young lady and she smiled. We can only do our small parts and hope it helps someone get through their day making it a good one for others.

I could not agree with you more, Dear Ivon! It’s so easy to get overwhelmed, thinking that our little efforts won’t make much of a dent in the problems of the world. Yet, as you said, if we focus on bringing respect and kindness into every interaction — from the postal clerk to the flight attendant ( 😜 ) — the difference is cumulative. Not only does it feel good to possess integrity, but now the person you’ve touched with such positivity is more likely to move forward with a newfound spring in their step and zip in their attitude. And so on. and so on…